Tuesday, February 5, 2013

College Cooking--Practicing For Valentine's Day and Mother's Day

This morning in the class for highschoolers with emotional disabilities we held our "College Cooking" group but with a twist, we were practicing for Valentine's Day next week.  If we start practicing now we'll all be ready to make one of those famous breakfasts for mom, come Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. Maybe.

First, you pass out the plates.  At 7:30 in the morning that's not an easy job since the plates are usually stuck together as tightly as the students' eyelids.


Next, cut two identical large shapes from cheap white bread, using one of the cookie cutters.  Then, use a smaller shape to cut a "window" in one piece of bread.


Or, do this in reverse order.


It turns out looking like a "Linzer" cookie.  You can also toast the bread before or after using the cookie cutters but definitely before adding the strawberry jam!  We used jelly instead of preserves since there may be some students in class who don't like the texture of preserves.
 We experimented with other shapes and many fit only if they were slightly angled on the bread.


Moustache or heart with wings?
Younger students may need help with understanding whether or not the shape completely fits on the bread.


For one student we learned that the soft bread made an unexpectedly wonderful fidget toy.  No kidding.
$1.29 per loaf at Target, what a deal!
The bird feeding area was close to the classroom, so we threw the crusts and leftovers outside.
We had an unexpected visitor in this high school class who thoroughly enjoyed working with the big kids!
He brought out the tender side in several of the high schoolers who helped him with the activity.

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